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Herrerasaurus
Herrerasaurus is a genus of basal theropod from the Carnian age of the Late Triassic period, around 231 million years ago. It contains one species, H.ischigulastensis. In Real Life Herrerasaurus was found in the Ischigulasto Formation of Argentina, and was around 6 meters long. It's legs were strong, with a short thigh and a rather long foot, indicating it was probably a fairly swift runner. The environment Herrerasaurus ''lived in was a volcanically active floodplain, which was covered by forests and had strong seasonal rainfall. The climate was moist and warm, although subject to seasonal variation. ''Herrerasaurus likely preyed on small-to-medium sized animals, such as the small ornithschian Pisanosaurus, as well as the more plentiful rhynchosaurs and synapsids. It was likely preyed upon by Saurosuchus; puncture wounds matching the large crocodylomorph were found in a Herrerasaurus skull. A pit in a skull bone of a specimen was attributed to intraspecific fighting. Although it's feet had five toes, only the middle three touched the ground, and only digits I, II, III and IV had claws. The arms were less then half the length of the legs, with hands bearing five digits; only the first two fingers and the thumb bore claws, the remaining two digits were small and lacked claws altogether. It's skull also had a flexible joint in the lower jaw; a feature unusual among dinosaurs, but that has also been seen in some lizard species. Due to it's basal status, Herrerasaurus' skull was more similar to more basal archosaurs like Euparkeria then to more derived theropods; it had five pairs of fenestrae in it's skull, two of which were for the eyes and nostrils. Between them was two pairs of antorbital fenestrae and a pair of tiny, slit-like holes called promaxillary fenestrae. Also due to this basal status, Herrerasaurus' placement in the dinosaur tree has been rather variable, due to it's combination of basal and derived traits. Initially described as an early carnosaur, it was then hypothesized to be a prosauropod, a basal saurischian, a basal dinosaur and even outside of Dinosauria. Currently, there are two hypothesis on the placement of Herrerasaurus; some believe it to be a basal member of Saurischia, others believe it to be a basal member of Theropoda. In The Isle Herrerasaurus ''is a small animal that can be easily killed by larger creatures, and so it is recommended that you use stealth to ambush prey similar in size to or smaller than you, such as ''Dryosaurus and Psittacosaurus. Hunting these animals involves taking as many bites as possible and building up the prey animal's bleeding level; eventually forcing them to either sit and heal, leaving themselves open to even more bites, or keep moving and die from blood loss. Scavenging off the kills of other carnivores is also a viable option if needed; but take caution when you are scavenging from larger carnivores, as they can very easily kill you if they so desire. Larger herbivores should generally be avoided entirely, as they can also kill you very easily. Herrerasaurus' small size means it is easy for it to hide from potential predators or prey in bushes and tall grass. It's vocalizations are loud and deep, similar to those of a crocodile. One good strategy to survive is to follow some carnivore/herbivore packs and wait that they kill someone or that someone dies, then go and eat the corpse. Just make sure that no one sees you. Trivia * The model used for the Herrerasaurus is one of Vlad's (Swordlord3D) older models. Gallery HerraModel.jpg|''Herrerasaurus'' as seen in artwork 20161109173018_1.jpg For a more complete gallery, visit Herrerasaurus/gallery Category:Animals Category:Dinosaurs Category:Carnivore Category:Extra small